After eight seasons as the Bridgeport girls basketball coach, Alton Sanders takes over the boys basketball program, replacing longtime coach Kevin Marshall.

“I’m excited about the opportunity,” Sanders said. “I’ve always wanted to coach the boys, but the opportunity never presented itself.”

The Bearcats were 5-19 last season, 2-10 in the Tri-Valley Conference Red Division.

“To get the program back to where it was, you have to get to work,” Sanders said. “We worked with the summer program first. You can’t build a program without having an off-season.

“I started the off-season with a lot of team camps and summer leagues, getting them to play more basketball. It went great. We had a great preseason.”

Sanders starred at Buena Vista, graduating in 1995 before playing at Texas-El Paso.

“We

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